As I said, I’ve been visiting Jeff in Baltmore. We went to NYC on Friday to see what we could see. This is one of the Bergdorf windows. The crowds were crazy so we really didn’t spend much time looking at them or others. We saw the tree at Rockefeller Center. Wonderful. Too many people.

The structure of these buildings reminded me of quilts… Such good lines and colors and textures.

And the cloud formation above us reminded Jeff and me of dandelions in the wind.

The end of the line was marked with these black and white containers. A reminder of how powerful a black and white pattern is.

We visited the Guggenheim, a museum I will want to visit again.

I loved the interlocking circular patterns that are everywhere inside. Even the water fountains are wonderfully round. The water drops were beautiful… at least I thought so. Jeff shook his head and pretended he didn’t know me when I was taking this photo.

NYC is full of strange and wonderful things. Everywhere you look. Seriously, this is the strangest gargoyle I have ever seen…

We took a MegaBus to and from NYC, got home late. We slept in Saturday and went shopping in Baltimore. I spotted this doorway…

Have fun and be lucky… it kind of says it all, does it not? Almost as good as live long and prosper. Except I’m not saying it with a tattoo.

Bought this papercut at the Charm City Craft Fair. Great, wonderful craft show! Maybe the best I’ve every shopped.

Saw the costumed lady with the snow globe headdress a couple of times. I never did stop and ask exactly what the costumes were for. Why didn’t I? Because Jeff would have disowned me. He prefers to take this sort of thing in stride without fuss. So I suppose that means you and I both can imagine a story to go with the photo. They were really nice and smiled graciously when I took their photo.

Today we went to Washington DC. We walked some more which is good. I keep eating and need to walk it off.

The grass on the national mall needs to be walked on less. It’s pretty sad. The buildings are impressive but they would look a lot better if the grass was good. The crowds were light, the weather was crisp and pretty, people were pleasant. Doesn’t get much better.

I took this shadow photo of me and Jeff. I like these things.

The reflecting pool between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial is being renovated. This view would be a lot better with water in the pool but Jeff still looks nice, doesn’t he?

I took the photo of the White House from between the irons of the fence. For a house, it’s pretty impressive but it’s not as big as most of the buildings around it. That said, for a house, it’s very nice! Glad I don’t live there. I’m happier being a quilter than I’d be as a politician.

We are now in for the night. Tomorrow will be a quiet day and then I go home. Lots to do there so I am going to enjoy tomorrow.

I’m visiting Jeff. Yesterday we took the bus to NYC. I’ll post those photos later today. Today we are shopping trendy Baltimore spots. First stop, the best craft show I’ve ever been to. I’m now outside with a bag of good stuff with the guys who are waiting for their women.

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You know how hard it can be to keep up with your wine glass at a party. That's where wine glass charms come in. But they are not cheap.

My friend, Jacqueline, had a great idea for individualizing wine glasses. She tied a different ribbon on each glass and party-goers got to choose from a lovely array of be-ribboned glasses. It made it very easy to keep up with your glass. Another friend, Karen, borrowed the idea. I was on my way to borrowing it yet again when I realized that I don't have enough different ribbon for our next event.

Elanor and I were at Hobby Lobby hunting stuff to make this year's Christmas ornaments when we walked by the button display. Have you seen a button display lately? They were inexpensive and the designs were all over the map. I immediately thought of wine glass charms. I bought several different button assortments, small blank cardstock tags, and 16 guage aluminum wire.

I pulled out my tiny wire cutters and the round-nosed pliers. I also pulled out my silver florist's wire.

I cut 4" lengths of florists wire. I poked small holes in the tags and wired the buttons to the tags. Twist the wire on the back and cut away the excess. You could tape the twisted ends but I got lazy and didn't. Cut away the excess papern below the button if you want to. I did.

To make the wire that holds the charm on the glass, cut 3 1/2" lengths of the aluminum wire and twist one end. Put the charm on the wire, twist the other end and then bend the endsof the wire together to make a circle.

Aluminum wire is very pliable so it's easy to open them to attach and detach from the wine glass stem.

I gotta say, I'm pretty proud of myself for thinking this up. That said, I won't be surprised to find out that this has been done before. But these are fun and I think we'll be able to use them for years. 

Many thanks to Jane, a faithful blog reader, who found the elephant iPhone stand online at Modcloth. Oh happy day! In addition to red and blue, it comes in gray. I know there is a fuschia one out there somewhere because that's what I bought Donna. I'd love lime green… but you know what? I am very very happy to have a blue one heading my way!

If you are interested in an elephant for yourself, click here. While I was there I browsed the sale pages and found a solar powered Queen Elizabeth…

Her hand waves when she is exposed to sunlight! Seriously, I could not resist. When the box comes this will go to Steve to put with the rest of the 'presents' I've bought for him to stuff my stocking with. I promise to be surprised Christmas morning. 

It's possible that I got the last waving Queen E but I found her dressed in pink here if you need one as well. 

You asked to see it and here it is – my mug rack! Missing mugs are in the dishwasher.

The walls in most houses have 2×4 studs with sheetrock on both sides. Steve cut a hole in the sheetrock on one side of the wall. The back of my mug rack is the back side of the sheetrock on the other side of the wall. He often has to cut out some 2×4. FYI – It's important not to cut a load-bearing stud.

There is a wood 'box' that makes up the four sides of the mug rack. Steve drilled matching holes with his drill press in the wood on either side of the box to put shelf brackets in. He trimmed it out with 1/4-round. I painted the back wall to match the walls but you could get decorative here. I could paint the wood white (and probably should) but then I'd have to do something with the mugs while the paint dried.

The mug with the skiers is from my childhood. I have two of them – we used to drink hot chocolate from them. Steve's is the mad scientist… the light blue early bird mug is newish and is really fun on the inside…

Honestly, this is very much like an in-wall medicine cabinet. If you didn't want to start from scratch I'll bet you can find an in-wall cabinet with some shelves at Lowe's or Home Depot.

Now I really must get to work! It's 4:00 and I'm still trying to get to the pile of fabric that I intended to be cutting up this morning. Isn't that the way it goes… 

I give thanks that I have a family I love, that I am healthy and happy, and that I'm only 55. As I see it I'm early 3rd quarter – if I live to be 100 I'm not much past half way. Good thing because there is still so very much to do!

I don't know about you, but we worked our asses off for four solid days. Actually, I'm up 4 pounds so I only wish I had worked some of it off. There you go. It's possible that the very fine Thanksgiving dinner was more calorie-rich than I thought it would be.

So, what did we do? Wednesday when Steve got out of class he, mom, and I went to Twin Oaks to buy trees and shrubs. The pickup was seriously loaded and I didn't take a photo. Oh well. The Shumard red oak was the biggest of the bunch. Steve dug a 24" x 24" x 24" hole in black clay which is not easy work.

It looks really good!

The wheel barrow in the foreground is full of liriope that I dug up so that I could plant the two Knock-Out rose bushes. I dug up more the next day so that I could move some chrysanthemums to make room for another bush.

Steve planted crepe myrtles and an abelia at the side of the house. They will look really good in a year or so.

In the back I planted some bushes. And the grass that got dug up in the front I planted in the bare spot in the back. The previous owner had a storage shed that is oh-so-gone now. Mom had topsoil put in. There is a big 'bare spot' that you can't see off to the right to fill.

In Mom's bitty back yard there's now a weeping yaupon. The one I planted 17 years ago is amazing now.

And we planted a Chinese pistache and an Oklahoma redbud that I didn't take pictures of. And a Texas redbud near the driveway. I've gotta say that when Mom was telling me what all she wanted to plant I was skeptical that it would all fit AND look good. She was right. Looks good and it all should fit as it grows. Mom is going to live in a forest if everything lives.

The rest of our weekend was spent getting out and putting up Mom's Christmas stuff, my Christmas stuff, and our outside lights (not a huge deal, we throw red lights at a big bush, a small tree, and a tree trunk), cleaning house and a whole lot of other small stuff.

Steve put in a mug rack for Mom yesterday and today. This is a built-in shelf for coffee mugs. Mom and I and Christy are/were all very much into fun mugs. With a mug rack they are on display and easy to grab. I should take a photo… Let me know if you want one.

Elanor spent the night last night. She is such a girl!!! I did her nails. We watched a movie, had popcorn. She went to bed and slept all night. Got up in a good mood. Was generally easy and pleasant all day long. She spent much of today with Mom, baking and visiting. I gotta tell you, Jack is way more work at this stage than Elanor.

I worked on real business today (which is why Elanor was with Mom). Didn't get to what I thought I would but I did put a new pattern up on the site. I'm not exactly telling everyone yet but if you've read this far you might as well know what's new, right? Click here to see. I'll probably do a separate blog post and newsletter on this later. 

Other things I'm recently thankful for… Mom got a speeding ticket on Wednesday. You'd think I'd be upset, but I'm not. She was going the speed I would go in the very same spot, she just got the ticket. I'm thankful to know she's keeping up with traffic and not driving 10 miles below the speed limit. Tomorrow I get to call and see how much her ticket is, and possibly signing her up for a defensive driving class. Should be interesting.

Steve bent the passenger door and front quarter panel on his truck. There is this 3' tall post that sticks up in the grocery store parking lot. He was parked by it but forgot about it when he went to leave. Oops. Again – this is something I can see myself doing so I'm thankful he did it for me. It's so much easier to get over it when he does it.

You know, I've realized even more this holiday than most, that Steve and I are not 'rest-ers'. When we have time off, we have projects. We did it again for the last four days. Honestly, it makes back-to-work-Monday look sort of peaceful. I don't dread the work-week! I'm happy and thankful looking back at a long weekend well-spent.